Science Mode Feedback

[Afterglow79]

(Please correct me if this is the wrong forum, I haven't posted outside of bug forums)

 

The good -

SCIENCE MODE - duh

STORY - The way progression is laid out through a story is great, and forcing you to go to some SOIs has forced me to explore some places I never have before

LACK OF WOBBLY ROCKETS - duh

DIFFICULTY/LENGTH - Science feels much better as it takes so much more the further you go

FPS - FPS improvements are great

 

Things that can be improved -

GREEN LINES - We need relays and such to make a return, they were one of the most fun parts of KSP1's science mode, and a great learning experience for new players

REENTRY VFX - There needs to be things such as sparks coming off the trail, and your craft shouldn't be seen

SCIENCE IMPROVEMENTS - Experiments like the RSCM-01 "Sample Grabber" rover arm experiments should be able to be transmitted back to KSC

MORE FLAVOR TEXT - Flavor text was always fun to read in KSP1, there needs to be more in KSP2

TIMEWARP IMPROVEMENTS - You be able to go to the max timewarp setting in a stable orbit (excl. 10,000,000x timewarp)

 

--

That is all I could think of, thank you KSP2 team for all the hard work you've put in delivering an incredible update!

"is fun" - My friend Apollo when asked for feedback

Edited December 22, 2023 by Afterglow79
thought to add an issue I had with timewarp

[SolarAdmiral]

All in all I'm really loving the new science mode. My feedback.

 

First and most importantly. - Please at some point bring back the Grand Slam Seismic test from the breaking ground pack. Easily the best science experiment. Encouragement to slam heavy things into a planet, or a nice bonus for disposing of transit stages.

Maybe instead of making it a deployable ground test, it could just be another science part to be left on landers. After impacts on the body, test data proportional to mass and speed are stored in the part on this other lander.

 

 

 

Apart from that.

Things that are great-

Love the new balance. - It's so much more fast and snappy than KSP1 science. It cuts out the repetition, but still presents growth and development, and allows for widely different playstyles. 

 I was worried seeing how the new system was streamlined that it wouldn't allow widely different playthrough styles. But I'm glad to see multiple ways are possible.

So far I've played through my preferred way, going heavily into probes, gathering up enough science so that when I do go to land kerbals on the Mun or Duna it is in style with big realistic looking craft.

I assume the more standard way of playing through directly with a more ramshackle kerbal crewed craft.

I haven't tried to play through only using spaceplanes yet, but I'm not sure that will be possible unfortunately. 

And no more need to do 12 identical Mun landings to get all the science from every biome. Love the new balance where you can move through without having to repeat stuff you've already done several times. Love the new balance of biomes. KSP1 had way too many. Love the new style of grouping them based on what looks different rather than having different ones for several similar regions.

 

 

Love the light story of the main missions. - One thing maybe could use a tweak though. As I was using probes, I was able to hammer them all out without any kerbal involvement.

Not to say I want that removed. As I generally like leading the way with probes.

But maybe after the main quest objectives of getting to the places, there could be an additional secondary quest to return a sample from the places, or send a kerbal to the places. Then the getting to the place main quest could be accomplished by a probe, and could even finish the whole main chain. But maybe the main quest part only gives half the science reward. The other half of the reward given with the secondary quest of returning sample or bringing a kerbal.

 

 

Something good I noticed. I've gotten a couple bugs like a docking port refusing to undock, or a landing leg that thinks its deployed when it isn't and so the button is unresponsive. But unlike KSP1 where that would be permanent, all of these in KSP2 seem to resolve themselves after a save and restart. So still some bugs to work on, but only a minor annoyance where in KSP1 it would be devastating to some long missions.

 

 

Stuff that wasn't good.

 

Worst bug currently in my explore save, is the one where parts suddenly shift, either left or right or up or down. So a huge improvement over worse bugs. But still annoying.

 

The part pairs that run the same experiment. On the whole, I like there being a choice. I like the Sci Jr vs Jr Jr, where later down the tree you unlock the smaller version.

But some need balance. Why are both atmosphere sensors on the same science node, where one is significantly heavier to the other.

 

Something that would be useful. - like the Grand Slam, I'd love to see the return of satellite mapping. A nice variant for an experiment, requiring a polar orbit. And it could display biome maps, and points of interest for investigating.